System for straightening footwear

ABSTRACT

A system for preventing footwear for drooping is disclosed. A footwear having a sole and an outer sole that encloses the footwear. The outer sole has an inner portion, where at least one self-adhesive strip is affixed to the inner portion of the outer sole. A hook and loop device operable to fit around a person&#39;s leg. The person&#39;s leg slides into the footwear where the hook and loop device attaches to the self-adhesive strip. The self-adhesive strip securely attaches to the hook and loop device to straighten the footwear alongside the person&#39;s leg.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system for preventing footwear from drooping. More particularly, a person is able to use this system in order to prevent her footwear from drooping.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

People have worn footwear for thousands of years to traverse the earth. Whether the footwear were shoes, boots, sneakers, hiking boots, combat boots or sandals over time the footwear have become worn. When the footwear became worn people have washed them, polished them or threw them out. However, even if the footwear becomes worn the person may still desire to keep it instead of throwing it out.

One of the several types of footwear that may become worn is a pair of boots. Over time, when a woman wears a pair of boots the boots may no longer be as straight as it was when the woman first bought the boots. The woman still desires to keep wearing the boots, but she can't prevent the top portion of the boot from drooping or sagging down.

Therefore, there is a need for a simple system for preventing a pair of boots or footwear from drooping or sagging.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-mentioned technical background, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for straightening the appearance of footwear.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system for straightening footwear is disclosed. A footwear has a sole and an outer sole that encloses the footwear. The outer sole has an inner portion, where at least one self-adhesive strip is affixed to the inner portion of the outer sole. A hook and loop device is operable to fit around a person's leg. The person's leg slides into the footwear where the hook and loop device attaches to the self-adhesive strip. The self-adhesive strip securely attaches to the hook and loop device to straighten the footwear alongside the person's leg.

In yet another embodiment of the invention, a method for straightening the appearance of footwear is disclosed. The method comprising: providing a footwear having a sole and an outer sole that encloses the footwear, where the outer sole has an inner portion; placing at least one self-adhesive strip on the inner portion of the outer sole; placing an elastic hook and loop device around a person's leg; inserting the person's leg portion through the footwear; pulling the footwear up where the at least one self-adhesive strip connects with the elastic hook and loop device; and

securely attaching the at least one self-adhesive strip to the elastic hook and loop device that straightens the footwear alongside the person's leg.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent as the following description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a person having drooping footwear in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a plurality of self-adhesive strips in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an elastic hook and loop device in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the self-adhesive strips of FIG. 2 on the footwear of FIG. 1 in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of the hook and loop system of FIG. 3 on a person's leg while the self-adhesive strip of FIG. 4 is on the footwear in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 6 is an illustration of the hook and loop device of FIG. 4 being attached to the footwear in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 7 is a flow chart describing how the self-adhesive strips of FIG. 2 and hook and loop device FIG. 3 are attached to the person's leg and to the footwear of the person.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The presently preferred embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the drawings, where like components are identified with the same numerals. The descriptions of the preferred embodiments are exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a woman having drooping footwear in accordance with the invention. A person or a woman 100 is wearing a pair of boots 101 a and 101 b on her legs 103. Boots 101 a and 101 b respectively have a sole 104 a, sole 104 b and outer sole 105 a and 105 b. Woman 100 has on a pair of jeans 102, but the jeans may be substituted for a skirt, dress, leggings or any type of apparel a woman or man may wear. Specifically, the boots 101 a and 101 b are on her respectively person's legs 103 or leg portions 103 a and 103 b. The pair of boots 101 a and 101 b may be any type of footwear, such as shoes, sneakers, fisherman's boot, combat boots, hiking boots, rain boots, snow boots etc. These pair of boots 101 a and 101 b are drooping or sagging down slightly deformed from the time these boots were first bought or worn, which generally occurs to footwear over a period of time.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of how the footwear is prevented from sagging or drooping while being worn by a person where the footwear is straightened. At block 701, footwear 101 a is provided where the footwear 101 a has the sole 104 a and an outer sole 105 a. Footwear 101 a has a sole 104 a that receives a person's foot. For the purposes of this flow chart, only the term footwear 101 a will be utilized to show how footwear 101 a and 101 b are strengthened. Thus, the procedure for straightening footwear 101 b will not be stated herein because it is the identical procedure for straightening footwear 101 a discussed below.

At block 703, one or more self-adhesive strips 201 and 203 (FIG. 2) are placed on inner portions 401 and 403 of outer sole 105 a of footwear 101 a at FIG. 4. Self-adhesive strips 201 and 203 may be placed on any inner portions 401 and 403 of outer sole 105 a. Although inner portions 401 and 403 are located on top of outer sole 105 a these inner portions 401 and 403 may be located anywhere inside of outer sole 105 a. Referring to FIG. 2, in another embodiment of the invention two or more self-adhesive strips 201, 203, 205, 207, 209, 211 and 213 may be placed on the inner portions 401 and 403 of outer sole 105 a of footwear 101 a.

Self-adhesive strips 201, 203, 205, 207, 209, 211 and 213 are typical self-adhesive strips that have adhesive on one side and have an attachable mesh padding on the other side. For example, the adhesive padding of self-adhesive strips 201 and 203 are affixed to the inner portions 401 and 403 of outer sole 105 a of the footwear 101 a while the mesh padding attaches to the elastic hook and loop device 301. For this embodiment, the self-adhesive strips 201, 203, 205, 207, 209, 211 and 213 are 4 inches length and 1 inch wide. However, the self-adhesive strips 201, 203, 205, 207, 209, 211 and 213 may have a range of dimensions anywhere from 1-10 inches length and 1-3 inches wide.

Next, at block 705 a hook-loop device 301 is placed around the person's leg portion 103 a of person 100. The person's leg portion 103 a and 103 b may be any portion of the person's leg such as her hamstrings, calve or knees. In another embodiment of the invention, the woman 100 is wearing a pair of jeans that she wants tucked into her boots 101 a and 101 b. She may optionally place the hook and loop device 301 around one of her jean pants. The tucking of the jean pant into the elastic hook-loop device 301 prevents the jean from coming out of the boot 101 a. The hook and loop device 301 may be elastic.

Referring to FIG. 3, an elastic hook-loop device 301 has an elastic strap on one side and a hook and loop portion on the other side. The elastic strap face of the hook and loop device 301 is placed around the person's lower leg portion 103 a while the hook and lop portion is on the other outward facing side that attaches to the mesh padding of the self-adhesive strip 201 and 203. This elastic hook-loop device 301 is 12-36 inches length and 2-8 inches wide. For this embodiment, the elastic hook-loop device 301 has dimensions of 10 inches length and 1 inch wide.

At block 707, person 100 inserts her leg 103 with lower leg portion 103 a through the footwear 101 a as shown in FIG. 5. Next, at block 709 top portion of the footwear 101 a is pulled up onto the leg portion 103 a in order to connect the mesh padding of the self-adhesive strips 201 and 203 to the hook-loop portion device 301. At block 711, the self-adhesive strips 201 and 203 are securely attached to the elastic hook-loop device 301. When the self-adhesive strips are 201 and 203 are securely attached to the elastic hook-loop device 301 it straightens the footwear 101 a alongside the lower leg portion 103 a, which prevents the footwear 101 a from drooping (as shown in FIG. 6). This embodiment pertains to footwear 101 a with lower leg portion 103 a with self-adhesive strips 201 and 203 attached to hook and loop device 301, but as stated above this procedure can be applied to footwear 101 b with lower leg portion 103 b with self-adhesive strips 205 and 207 attached to hook and loop device 301.

This invention provides a simple and easy method for straightening the appearance of footwear on a person while the footwear is being worn. A person is able to utilize a self-adhesive strip with an elastic hook-loop device to secure and straighten footwear worn by the person. This invention straightens footwear, which tend to sag or droop over time.

Although the present invention has been described above in terms of specific embodiments, many modifications and variations of this invention can be made as will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from its spirit and scope as set forth in the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for straightening footwear, the system comprising: a footwear having a sole and an outer sole that encloses the footwear, wherein the outer sole has an inner portion, wherein at least one self-adhesive strip is affixed to the inner portion of the outer sole; a hook and loop device operable to fit around a person's leg; wherein the person's leg slides into the footwear, wherein the hook and loop device attaches to the at least one self-adhesive strip at the inner portion of the footwear; and wherein the at least one self-adhesive strip securely attaches to the hook and loop device to straighten the footwear alongside the person's leg.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the footwear is a boot.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the footwear is a fisherman's boot.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the hook and loop device is an elastic hook and loop device.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the person's leg is a lower leg portion of the person's leg.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the person's leg includes a jean pants leg surrounding the person's leg.
 7. A method for straightening footwear, the method comprising: providing a footwear having a sole and an outer sole that encloses the footwear, wherein the outer sole has an inner portion; placing at least one self-adhesive strip on the inner portion of the outer sole; placing an elastic hook and loop device around a person's leg; inserting the person's leg through the footwear; pulling the footwear up to where the at least one self-adhesive strip connects with the elastic hook and loop device; and securely attaching the at least one self-adhesive strip to the elastic hook and loop device to straighten the footwear alongside the person's leg. 